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m 

IJO 


114 


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U    11.6 


p^. 


/^ 


/ 


Photographic 

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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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0 


CIHM/ICMH 

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10X  14X  18X  22X 


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30X 


^ 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


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la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

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symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 


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beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
f^mAs  A  des  taux  de  rAduction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
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de  i'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  geuche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

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5 

6 

( 


.-gp^- 


'I 


1 


THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE 

IN    ITS 

INFLUENCE  UPON  THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM 


ill 

I 


I 


60931 


P^U 


HH^i^ 


PAPERS 


AMERICAN 
HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 

Vol.  I.    No.  4 


THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE 

IN    ITS 

INFLUENCE  UPON  THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM 


te 


A  PAPER  PRESENTED  TO  THE  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION, 

SEPTEMBER   9,  1 885 


Ii 


BY   THE 

Right  Reverend  C.  F.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 


BISHOP  OF  MISSOUKI 


•      ■>  tm 


^  i  »       I  ^  t  J 

■<•  a  (  .    I      <• 

,    .     •  I  ^  >  a     ■    •  I 

C     ■    )    *  *  i     '    I         4 

f     >  •  «  e        a       D 


I   •§,     >       >  I 

1      1    »      t   1 


NEW  YORK  ii  LOND  5N 

G.   P.   PUTNAM'S   SONS 

188s 


i 


■i  w 


COPyRlGHT   BV 

AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 

1883 


H 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


w 


THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  IN  ITS  INFLUENCE 
UPON  THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM. 


I 


U 


Having  my  residence  in  a  portion  of  the  Union  which 
was  never  under  the  British  flag  but  was  acquired  in  that 
large  accession  of  territory  secured  to  this  country  from 
France  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  I  am  naturally 
interested  in  the  transaction  itself,  and  in  the  marked  results 
which  it  has  left  upon  our  Amfiricai.  system.  In  this  interest 
I  am  well  assured  that  all  students  of  our  country's  history, 
who  seek  for  the  causes  of  the  present  in  the  past,  will 
largely  share. 

That  this  addition  to  our  national  domain  was  not  an  in- 
significant one,  may  be  in  part  inferred  from  the  fact  that  it 
added  to  the  United  States  a  territory  nearly  four  times  as 
large  as  that  comprised  in  the  original  thirteen  United  colo- 
nies ;  and,  according  to  the  last  census,  had  in  it  a  popula- 
tion of  nearly  one-fourth  of  that  of  the  entire  country. 

The  acquisition  of  the  Louisiana  territory  was  not  caused 
by  the  pressure  of  population  in  the  older  portions  of  the 
country,  crowding  out  the  frontiers,  and  compelling  expan- 
sion. The  regions  west  of  the  Alleghanies  were  in  any  part 
only  sparsely  settled,  and  in  the  greater  portion  the  Indian 
titles  were  not  extinguished,  and  many  parts  were  unex- 
plored. 

At  the  same  time,  the  enormous  productiveness  of  the 
soil  about  the  settlements  in  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennes- 
see was  making  necessary  an  outlet  more  convenient  than 
the  laborious  journey  to  the  East  across  the  mountains. 
Given  a  soil  like  that  of  the   great  interior  valley  of  this 

253]  5 


The  Louhiana  Piirc/iuse  in  its 


country,  and  it  would  bo  but  ;i  question  of  time  when  pos- 
session  of  the  mnutli  of  the  Mississippi  River  would  be  de- 
manded and  conceded  to  this  country.  A  full  understanding 
of  the  great  value  of  this  outlet  was  had  by  Spain  and 
France  ;  and  therefore  the  varied  forms  of  hindrance  inter- 
posed by  them  to  our  acquisition  of  the  possession  of  it  are 
natural  and  intelligible.  They  knew  that  the  power  which 
controlled  the  mouth  of  the  river  must  inevitably  become 
the  dominant  factor  on  this  hemisphere.  The  steady,  inex- 
orable pressure  of  Anglo-Saxon  force  among  the  upper 
waters  at  length  thrust  out  all  opposing  European  power  at 
its  outlet.  The  needs  of  Napoleon  and  the  fear  of  England 
were  the  exigencies  in  Europe  which  were  the  immediate 
occasion  of  the  cession ;  but  the  result  would  have  been  the 
same  within  a  short  time,  even  without  this  emergency. 

The  cession  of  the  vast  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi 
was  but  an  accident.  The  main  object  sought  was  an  un- 
controlled and  uninterrupted  passage  out  of  the  river,  and  a 
market  for  the  teeming  products  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 
Talleyrand  almost  thrust '  into  our  indifferent  hands  the 
regions  to  the  west  of  the  great  river.  All  that  our  minis- 
ters insisted  upon  was  the  island  of  New  Orleans,  to  the 
east,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  could  be  the  place 
of  deposit  and  port  of  transshipment  of  our  goods.  In  the 
carelessness  as  to  the  value  and  possession  of  the  vast  trans- 
Mississippi  region,  and  in  the  difficulty  of  compassing  the 
price  which  Napoleon  asked,  Mr.  Livingston,  our  Minister 
in  Paris,  even  suggested  to  Mr.  Madison  that,  if  only  New 
Orleans  and  the  Floridas  could  be  kept,  the  purchase-money 
to  be  paid  might  be  realized  by  the  sale  of  the  territory  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  along  with  the  right  of  sovereignty, 
to  some  power  in  Europe,  whose  vicinity  we  should  not 
fear.' 

The  knowledge  that  the  purchase  of  t  le  territory  was 
actually  possible,  and  the  details  as  to  .he  amount  and 
manner  of  purchase,  only  reached   President  Jefferson,  and 


1 


'  Gayarre  ;  "  Span.  Dom.,"  p.  502. 
'  Gayarre  .  "  S.  I)  ,"  p.  509 


t 


') 


255] 


Influence  upon  the  A  inerican  Systepn. 


the  people  of  this  country,  after  the  transaction  had  been 
completed.  There  was  deep  n{:[itation  on  the  subject,  and 
insistence  here.  Mr.  Monroe  was  sent  over  by  the  President 
to  join  Mr.  Livingston,  the  better  to  conduct  the  delicate 
business.  He  reache-l  Paris,  however,  only  after  the  matter 
had  been  virtually  closed.  Napoleon  wns  as  changeable  as  a 
girl.  Every  day  his  mood  varied.  It  had  been  the  dream  of 
his  life  to  establish  a  transatlantic  empire.  lie  was  watch- 
ing the  news  from  London  where  the  war-clouds  were  gather- 
ing, and  did  not  wish  to  lose  a  sale  for  Louisiana,  and  cause 
it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  who  had  a  fleet  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  ready  to  fall  upon  it,  in  case  that  hostilities 
should  be  declared.  In  twenty  days  after  he  gave  his  con- 
sent to  the  sale,  the  convention  was  signed,  with  all  the 
particulars  concerning  the  amount  to  be  paid,  and  when  and 
how  it  should  be  paid.  The  Ambassadors,  knowing  the 
temper  in  America,  had  to  take  the  risk  that  their  work 
would  be  ratified  at  home. 

The  purchase  was  a  transaction  for  which  in  this  country 
there  had  been  no  precedent.  While  it  marked  a  vast  acces- 
sion to  the  national  domain  and  strength,  still  there  were 
interests  which  conceived  that  they  were  injured  by  the  pur- 
chase, and  which,  therefore,  raised  objections  to  it.  Mr. 
Jefferson  '  admitted  t'.iat  the  purchase  and  annexation  were 
unauthorized,  and  even  proposed  an  cx-post-facto  amendment 
of  the  constitution,  to  give  sanction  to  the  measure.  He 
wrote',  "The  Constitution  has  made  no  provision  for  our 
holding  foreign  territory,  still  less  for  incorporating  foreign 
nations  into  the  Union.  The  Executive,  in  seizing  the  fugi- 
tive occasion  which  so  much  advances  the  good  of  the 
country,  has  done  an  act  beyond  the  Constitution.  The 
Legislature,  in  casting  behind  them  metaphysical  subtleties, 
and  risking  themselves  like  faithful  servants,  must  ratify  and 
pay  for  it,  and  throw  themselves  on  their  country  for  doing 
for  them  unauthorized  what  we  know  they  would  have  done, 
had  they  been  in  the  situation  to  do  it."     At  the  same  time, 

'  Adams  ;  "  Federalism  of  New  England,"  p.  54. 
'  Jefferson's  Works,  iv.,  p,  500,  etc. 


(' 


8 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[256 


Mr.  Jefferson  observed  that  the  less  that  was  said  about  any 
constitutional  difficulty  the  better,  and  that  it  would  be  de- 
sirable for  Congress  to  do  what  was  necessary  in  silence. 
Mr.  Monroe  had  written  from  Paris  that  there  was  reason  to 
believe  that,  if  the  tb'ng  were  to  bo  done  over  again,  it  could 
not  be  obtained,  and  that  if  the  least  opening  was  given,  the 
French  ould  declare  the  treaty  void.  For  this  reason  Mr. 
Jefferson  thought  that,  whatever  Congress  should  deem  it 
necessary  to  do,  should  be  done  with  as  little  debate  as 
possible,  and  particularly  so  as  respecting  any  constitutional 
difficulty. 

The  general  position  of  M; ,  Jeflersoii  in  regard  to  the 
Constitution  required  him  to  hold  that  Congress  possessed 
no  residuary  powers,  only  such  as  were  distinctly  created  by 
that  instrument.  At  the  same  time  he  knew  that  nothing 
must  be  said  that  would  give  France  a  pretext  for  retracting. 
And  so  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Breckenridgc,  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  and  sent  the  draft  of  a  proposed  new  article  of 
the  Constitution :  "  Louisiana,  as  ceded  by  France  to  the 
United  States,  is  made  a  part  of  the  United  States,"  and 
asked  him  to  desire  the  presence  of  every  friend  of  the  treaty 
on  the  first  day  of  the  session,  in  order  that  it  might  be 
quietly  and  expeditiously  passed  ;  and  to  send  private  letters 
for  this  purpose  especially  to  the  Senators  of  all  the  western 
States.  B  it  Mr.  Ereckcnridge  '  held  to  the  inherent  right  of 
the  United  States  to  acquire  territory,  and  so  no  constitu- 
tional amendment  was  proposed.  The  terms  of  the  treaty 
were  ratified  by  Congress,  and  Louisiana,  as  ceded  by  Fran^, 
to  the  United  States,  was  made  a  part  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  provi'^'on  that  its  white  inhabitants  should  be  citizens, 
and  stand  on  the  same  footing  with  other  citizens  in  analox 
gous  situations.  As  to  the  territory,  however,  lying  north 
of  an  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas  River,  no  new  State  was  to  be  established  out  of  it, 
until  the  action  of  Congress  should  be  had. 

Even  after  the  purchase  it  was  not  known  what  had  been 
bought.     The  tract  extended  vaguely  off  to  the  north,  and 


It 

h 


L 


'  Mag.  Am.  Hist,,  Aug.  1885,  p,  iqg.     Jefferson's  Works,  iv.,  498. 


257J 


Injluence  upon  the  American  System. 


C) 


toward  the  South  Sea  ;  but,  for  scores  of  years  afterward, 
there  was  very  little  idea  of  all  t'  c  it  included.  There  were 
very  few  white  people  living  in  the  purchased  terrcory  then. 
There  were  some  settlements  on  the  lower  Mississippi  in  the 
Teche  country,  and  along  the  Red  and  Washita  rivers  ;  a 
few  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas.  Farther  up,  there  were 
the  settlements  at  New  Madrid,  St.  Genevieve,  and  St.  Louis. 
As  for  those  on  the  Missouri  River,  the  explorers,  Lewis  and 
Clarke,  reported,  a  few  months  after  the  purchase,  that  they 
left  the  last  establishment  of  the  whites  at  La  Charette,  cnly 
fifty-four  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river.'  Almost  all  the 
whites  who  lived  in  the  territory  were  French,  and  mainly 
from  Canada. 

There  was  a  natural  disposition,  directly  after  the  purchase, 
to  ascertain  somewhat  more  clearly  what  had  been  acquired. 
As  the  treaty  of  purchase  was  signed  on  the  30th  of 
April,  during  the  same  summer  Mr.  Jefferson  planned  the 
expedition  under  Meriwether  Lewis  and  William  Clarke,  to 
explore  the  course  of  the  Missouri  River,  cross  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  follow  the  waters  of  the  Columbia  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  They  started  from  St.  Louis  in  the  spring  of 
.804,  and,  having  accomplished  their  task,  returned  in  Sep- 
tember, 1 806.  In  the  summer  of  1804,  the  exploration  of 
the  Washita  River  was  made  by  Mr.  Dunbar,  of  Natchez,  by 
order  of  the  President.  In  August,  1805,  Captain  Zebulon 
Pike  started  up  the  Mississippi  to  discover  its  source.  He 
was  absent  about  eight  months.  In  July,  1806,  after  his 
return,  he  started  with  a  party  up  the  .vlissouri  River,  and 
then  up  the  Osage,  crossing  over  to  the  Arkansas  and  the 
Red.  By  mistake  he  passed  the  Spanish  frontier  into  New 
Mexico,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  in  July,  1807,  was  conducted 
out  to  the  American  posts  at  Natchitoches.''  Later,  the 
publication  of  the  journal  of  this  expedition,  with  its  descrip- 
tion of  the  interior  of  New  Mexico  and  Texas,  was  a  strong 
inducement  to  the  removal  of  many  to  these  regions. 

By  means  of  these  surveys  a  very  great  increase  was  had 

'  Lewis  and  Clarke  Exp.,  i.,  7. 
'Pike's  Journal,  Voy.  Sources  A'k  ,  p.  202. 


I 


I  ' 

ll 


i  i 


t  I 


10 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[258 


in  the  knowledge  of  the  natural  features  and  resources  of  the 
vast  region  that  had  been  acquired.  Later  still,  other 
expeditions  were  set  on  foot.  In  18 19,  Major  Long  was 
directed  to  ascend  the  Missouri  River,  for  the  purpose  of 
exploring  the  regions  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  the 
same  year.  General  Cass,  Governor  of  the  Northwestern  Ter- 
ritory, with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  then  Secretary  of 
War,  sent  Mr.  Schoolcraft  to  explore  the  sources  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  with  greater  exactness  than  had  been  possible 
by  Captain  Pike. 

The  boundaries  of  the  territory  were  not  fully  determined 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  northwestern  angle  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States,  at  the  time  of  the  purchase, 
was  the  point  at  which  a  line  stretched  due  west  from  the 
most  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  would 
strike  the  Mississippi  River.'  The  next  step  was  taken  in 
the  treaty  of  1818,  when  it  was  declared  that  the  boundary 
line  between  this  country  and  Canada  should  be  a  line  drawn 
due  south  from  the  most  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods,  until  it  should  intersect  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
of  north  latitude,  and  then  should  follow  that  parallel  to  the 
Stony,  or  Rocky,  Mountains.  It  was  furthermore  agreed 
that  any  country  that  might  be  claimed  by  either  party  on 
the  northwestern  coast  of  America,  westward  of  the  Stony 
Mountains,  should  be  free  and  open  for  the  term  of  ten 
years,  without  prejudice  to  the  citizens  of  the  two  powers. 
In  a  convention,  dated  on  the  sixth  of  August,  1827,  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty  of  18 18  were  extended  for  an  indefi- 
nite period,  eitht.  party  to  give  twelve  months'  notice  of  its 
intention  to  annul  or  abrogate  the  same. 

At  this  point  'jhe  matter  rested,  until  the  treaty  of  1846, 
which  carried  on  the  boundary  along  the  forty-ninth  parallel, 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  middle  of  the  channel 
which  separates  the  continent  from  Vancouver's  Island, 
and  thence  south  through  the  middle  of  the  said  channel, 
and  of  Fuca  Straits  to  the  Pacific  Ocear 

To  the  southwest,  the  boundary  was  nut  settled  until  the 

'  Treaties  U.  S.,  p.  276. 


i\ 


'  0i  I 


259] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


II 


treaty  was  ratified  with  Spain,  on  the  twenty-second  of 
February,  18 19,'  when  the  Hne  was  fixed,  as  beginning,  at 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sabine  River,  in  the 
sea,  continuing  north  along  the  west  bank  to  the  thirty- 
second  degree  of  north  latitude,  being  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  State  of  Louisiana ;  thence  due  north  to  the  Red 
River,  following  the  same  westward  to  longitude  one  hun- 
dred degrees  west  from  London,  and  twenty-three  from 
Washington ;  thence  crossing  the  Red  River,  and  running 
due  north  to  the  Arkansas  River  ;  thence  along  the  southern 
bank  of  the  same  to  its  source  in  latitude  forty-two  north, 
and  thence  by  that  parallel  of  latitude  to  the  South  Sea.  If 
the  source  of  the  Arkansas  was  found  to  be  north  or  south 
of  latitude  forty-two,  then  the  line  was  to  run  north  or 
south  to  that  degree,  and  thence  along  that  line  to  the  South 
Sea. 

By  the  charter  of  Louis  XIV.,'  the  country  purchased 
to  the  north  included  all  that  was  contiguous  to  the  waters 
that  flowed  into  the  Mississippi.  Consequently  its  northern 
boundary  was  the  summit  of  the  highlands  in  which  its 
northern  waters  rise.  By  the  tenth  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  France  and  England  agreed  to  appoint  commis- 
sioners to  settle  the  boundary,  and  these  commissioners,  as 
such  boundary,  marked  this  summit  on  the  forty-ninth 
parallel  of  north  latitude.'  This  would  not  carry  the  rights 
of  the  United  States  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The 
claim  to  the  territory  beyond  was  based  upon  the  principle 
of  continuity,  the  prolongation  of  the  territory  to  the  adja- 
cent great  body  of  water.  As  against  Great  Britain,  the 
claim  was  founded  on  the  treaty  of  1763,  between  France 
and  Great  Britain,  by  which  the  latter  power  ceded  to  the 
former  all  its  rights  west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The 
United  States  succeeded  to  all  the  rights  of  France.  Be- 
sides this,  there  was  an  independent  claim  created  by  the 
discovery  of  the  Columbia  River  by  Gray,  in   1792,  and  its 

'Treaties  U.  S.,  p.  787. 

'JefTerson's  Works,  vii.,  51,     Marbois,  p.  284,  Eng.  tra, 

*  B.ube  Marbois,  p.  263,  Eng.  tr. 


0 


12 


'J7ie  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[260 


exploration  by  Lewis  and  Clarke.'  All  this  was  added  to 
by  the  cession  by  Spain  in  18 19,  of  any  title  that  it  had  to 
all  territory  north  of  the  forty-second  degree. 

The  western  boundary  of  the  territory  was  the  Rio  Bravo, 
from  its  mouth  to  its  source,  and  thence  along  the  highlands 
and  mountains  dividing  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  from 
those  of  the  Pacific.  The  line  along  the  highlands  was  based 
upon  the  charter  of  Louis  XIV.  That  of  the  Rio  Bravo 
stood  on  the  fact  that  when  La  Salle  took  possession  of  the 
Bay  of  St.  Bernard,  Panuco  was  the  nearest  possession  of 
Spain,  and  the  Rio  Bravo  was  the  natural  boundary  half-way 
between  them. 

Such  were  the  boundaries  of  the  vast  territory  acquired 
from  France  in  1803. 

It  could  not  be  otherwise  than  that  the  addition  of  this 
great  domain  to  the  South  and  West  would  have  a  tendency 
to  create  apprehensions  that  the  equilibrium  of  the  political 
and  commercial  interests  of  the  Union  would  be  thereby 
disturbed.  The  addition  of  such  weight  on  one  side  of  the 
ship  of  state  would  threaten  dangerous  oscillations  in  the 
steady  bearing  of  the  vessel.  Of  course  at  first  the  enor- 
mous area  was  but  a  geographical  expression  ;  it  was  an  un- 
known quantity  as  to  its  value  or  resources.  Like  the  pow- 
ers hidden  in  the  youth,  they  could  only  be  gradually 
apprehended  and  brought  into  play.  But  even  at  the  out- 
set, there  were  conditions  at  the  time  in  the  temper  of  the 
country  which  caused  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  terri- 
tory to  deepen  irritations  and  alarm  which  had  been  created 
and  fostered  by  other  considerations. 

The  business  and  prosperity  of  the  country  were  poised 
between  the  two  rival  and  contending  interests  of  agriculture 
and  commerce.  Manufactures  were  not  as  yet  arresting 
much  attention.  Steam  had  not  begun  to  be  applied  largely 
to  machinery.  Eli  Whitney  was  now  just  perfecting  his 
cotton-gin.  and  thus  enabling  that  fabric  to  be  cheaply  made 
into  cloth.  The  country  had  still  to  look  abroad  for  the 
simplest  of  manufactured  articles.     Speaking  broadly,  the 


Rush.  Resid.  in  London,  pp.  105-407. 


-^ 


261] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


n 


South  represented  the  interests  of  agriculture,  while  com- 
mercial pursuits  dominated  in  the  North. 

At  a  time  when  there  were  great  public  burdens,  resulting 
from  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  to  be  distributed,  and  tax- 
ation to  be  laid  with  even  pressure  upon  those  little  able  or 
disposed  to  accept  it,  it  became  a  matter  of  the  most  anxious 
concern  that  the  load  should  be  distributed  fairly,  and  with 
no  discrimination  against  any  interest.  For  this  reason  the 
constitution  of  the  representative  body  which  was  to  impose 
the  taxes  and  to  make  the  laws,  became  a  subject  of  great 
importance.  So  delicate  was  the  equilibrium  in  Congress, 
that  the  admission  of  Kentucky  into  the  Union  was  held 
back  until  the  counterpoise  was  had  in  the  admission  of 
Vermont.'  The  opposition  in  the  Senate  to  the  ratification 
of  the  treaty  of  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  was  wide  and  out- 
spoken. Uriah  Tracy,  of  Connecticut,  said,  concerning  the 
acquisition  :  "  If  done  at  all,  this  should  be  done  by  universal 
consent ;  and  this  universal  consent,  I  am  positive,  cannot 
be  obtained  to  such  a  pernicious  measure  as  the  admission 
of  Louisiana — of  a  world,  and  such  a  world ! — into  our 
Union.  This  would  be  absorbing  the  Northern  States  and 
rendering  them  insignificant  in  the  Union,  as  they  ought  to 
be  if  by  their  own  consent  the  measure  should  be  adopted.'" 
The  vote  to  ratify  the  treaty  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of 
twenty-six  to  six,  these  latter  votes  in  opposition  all  being 
from  New  England. 

The  issues  of  political  partizanship  were  further  embittered 
by  the  division  of  the  country  into  hostile  parties :  the  one 
urging  the  need  of  strong  central  authority,  the  other  empha- 
sizing the  original  and  indefeasible  rights  of  the  States  ;  the 
one  magnifying  the  benefits  coming  from  the  recently  adopted 
Constitution,  and  the  other  seeing  in  it  the  danger  of  an  aris- 
tocracy or  royalty.  Political  divisions  were  created  also  by 
the  commercial  complications  which  were  occasioned  by  the 
vast  struggle  between  France  and  England  being  carried  on, 
in  which  we,  as  the  principal  carrying  nation,  had  large 
stakes.     The  result  was  a  condition  of  political  acrimony,  of 

'  Bancroft,  Const.,  i.,  373.  'Annals  Cong.,  8th  Cong.,  istScss.,  p.  5S. 


H 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[262 


which  the  country  since  has  known  none  more  intense  or 
virulent. 

In  the  winter,  therefore,  of  1803-4,  immediately  after,  and 
as  a  consequence  of,  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  certain 
leaders  of  the  Federal  party  conceived  the  project  of  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Union,  and  the  establishment  of  a  North- 
ern Confederacy.  The  justifying  causes  to  those  who  enter- 
tained it  were,  that  the  annexation  of  Louisiana  to  the 
Union  transcended  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  ;  that  it  created,  in  fact,  a  new 
confederacy,  to  which  the  States,  united  by  the  former  com- 
pact, were  not  bound  to  adhere ;  that  it  was  oppressive  to 
the  interests  and  destructive  to  the  influence  of  the  Northern 
section  of  the  Confederacy,  whose  right  and  duty  it  therefore 
was  to  secede  from  the  new  body  politic,  and  to  constitute 
one  of  their  own.  It  was  lamented  that  one  inevitable  con- 
sequence of  the  annexation  of  Louisiana  to  the  Union  would 
be  to  diminish  the  relative  weight  and  influence  of  the  North- 
ern section  ;  that  it  would  aggravate  the  evil  of  the  slave  repre- 
sentation ;  and  endanger  the  Union  itself,  by  the  expansion 
of  its  bulk,  and  the  enfeebling  extension  of  its  line  of  de- 
fence against  foreign  invasion.  A  Northern  Confederacy 
was  thought  to  be  the  only  probable  counterpoise  to  the 
manufacture  of  new  States  in  the  South.' 

This  project  was  quietly  and  extensively  discussed  at  the 
time,"  by  the  members  of  Congress  from  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  especially.  General  Hamilton,  indeed,  was 
chosen  as  the  person  to  be  placed,  at  the  proper  time,  at 
the  head  of  the  military  movement  which,  it  was  foreseen, 
would  be  necessary  for  carrying  the  plan  into  execution." 
He  was  consulted  on  the  subject ;  and  although  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  he  was  opposed  to  it,  he  consented  to  attend  a 
meeting  of  Federalists  in  Boston  in  the  autumn  of  1804,  but 
his  untimely  death,  in  the  summer  of  that  year,  prevented 
the  meeting. 

To   whatever   proportions,    however,    the   project   might 


Ki, 


•     I 


,   ^ 


'  Adams'  "  Feder.  in  N.  E.,"  p.  77.  *Ib.,  pp,  107,  146. 

•Adams'  Fed.,  p.  53. 


K.. 


263] 


Infl:icnce  upon  the  American  System. 


15 


otherwise  have  gone,  it  was  checked  by  the  advantage  which 
was  evident  to  all  of  the  securing  of  so  large  a  domain,  by 
the  great  desirablenesi^  of  preventing  France  from  holding 
the  mouth  of  our  great  river,  and  by  the  settlement  of  the 
question  of  our  national  boundaries.  These  considerations 
gave  a  quietus  for  a  time  to  the  suggestions  of  sectional 
jealousy.  Occasions  somewhat  later,  however,  gave  them 
renewed  activity. 

The  jealousy  of  Great  Britain  at  the  prosperity  of  our 
commerce  caused  her,  at  first,  in  1805,  to  re-enact  her  obsolete 
rule  of  war  of  1756 — that  no  trade  of  a  neutral  nation  with  a 
belligerent  power,  in  time  of  war,  is  lawful,  except  a  trade 
which  had  been  lawful  between  the  same  parties  in  time  of 
peace.  When  this  was  resisted  by  the  United  States  as 
opposed  to  the  law  of  nations  and  oppressive,  it  was  only 
replaced  by  the  proclamation,  aimed  at  Napoleon,  but 
instantly  affecting  us,  of  a  sweeping  blockade  of  the  whole 
coast  of  Europe  from  the  Elbe  to  Brest. 

This,  while  greatly  injurious  to  France,  laid  our  commerce 
under  the  peril  of  being  seized  as  pri7.es.  Napoleon  retali- 
ated by  the  Berlin  decrees  of  the  twenty-first  of  November, 
1806,  declaring  the  British  Isknds  in  a  condition  of  block- 
ade, and  forbidding  the  admission  into  France  of  any  vessels 
which  had  been  to  England  since  the  publication  of  the 
decree.  As  against  this  action,  the  Orders  in  Council  were 
issued  on  the  seventh  of  January,  1807,  by  Great  Britain, 
which  subjected  to  capture  and  condemnation  every  neutral 
vessel  and  cargo  bound  to  any  port  or  colony  of  any  country 
with  which  Great  Britain  was  then  at  war,  or  from  which 
British  vessels  were  excluded.  Napoleon  soon  after  followed 
with  the  proclamation  of  the  Milan  decrees  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  December,  1807,  which  declared  every  vessel  which 
should  have  submitted  to  be  searched  by  an  English  ship,  or 
been  on  a  voyage  to  England,  or  should  have  paid  any  tax 
to  the  British  Government,  denationalized,  and  subject  to 
capture  and  condemnation. 

The  effect  of  all  these  proclamations,  together  with  the 
vague  claim  of  impressment  of  our  seamen,  was  to  cripple 


I    i 


i6 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[264 


i     I 


our  carrying  trade.  President  Jcuerson  therefore,  for  the 
safety  of  our  commerce,  in  view  of  the  decrees  and  orders, 
on  the  twenty-second  of  December,  1807,  recommended  the 
enactment  of  embargo  laws,  which  were  passed,  by  which  all 
vessels  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  were  for- 
bidden to  leave,  except  that  foreign  vessels  might  leave  in 
ballast,  or  with  the  goods  which  they  had  on  board  at  the 
time  that  the  notice  of  the  embargo  was  received.  Of 
course  the  result  of  the  embargo  was  to  put  a  stop  to  all 
our  commerce.  Vessels  were  decaying  at  their  wharves. 
The  distress  in  the  cities  became  pitiful.  It  was  alleged  by 
the  Federal  party  that  the  law  was  designed  as  a  help  to 
France,  because  it  had  no  navy. 

The  distress  v  as  most  deeply  felt  in  New  England,  and  it 
concurred  with  the  political  animosities  of  the  time  in  stir- 
ring into  renewed  life  the  project  for  a  Northern  Con- 
federacy, which  had  slumbered  since  shortly  after  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana. 

The  embargo  laws  were,  on  the  first  of  March,  1809,  re- 
pealed, and  the  non-intercouse  law  passed,  by  which  all 
intercourse  with  Great  Britain  and  France  was  forbidden  ; 
except  that;  if  either  power  should  modify  its  hostile  action, 
then  trade  with  that  power  might  be  resumed.  The  letter 
of  Mr.  Pickering  to  Governor  Sullivan  ot  Massachusetts,  de- 
nouncing the  general  government  and  the  embargo,  and  call- 
ing upon  the  commercial  States  to  make  common  cause 
against  the  alleged  oppressions,  intensified  the  discontent. 

The  degree  of  interest  felt  by  Great  Britain  in  the  apparent 
loosening  of  the  bonds  of  union,  and  her  disposition  to  foment 
the  trouble,  and  profit  by  it,  was  shown  in  the  mission  of 
Mr.  Henry  to  the  New  England  States  by  the  Governor- 
General  of  Canada.  The  consternation  in  Congress  was 
extreme,  when,  on  the  tenth  of  March,  1812,  President  Madi- 
son sent '  in  a  message,  communicating  the  entire  correspond- 
.  ence  between  the  Governor-General  and  Mr.  Henry,  who  was 
an  Englishman,  familiar  with  the  States,  and  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  spring  of  1809  to  pass  through  the   Eastern 

'  Niles'  Reg.,  ii.,  68. 


'\ 


■  I  ■ 


•       \-i\\ 


^3BL, 


I  m-i^, ,. 


1*         mm 


t 


;  -(- 


•       4-V\i 


265] 


Injlucucc  upon  the  A  mcrican  System. 


'7 


States  and  observe  the  degree  of  defection  from  the  govern- 
ment, and  place  himself  in  communication  with  any  persons 
who  were  disposed  to  address  or  approach  the  English 
authorities  with  a  view  to  a  better  accommodation  of  their 
section  with  the  iiritish  Government,  Mr,  Henry  revealed 
the  correspondence  because  of  the  failure  of  the  English 
ministry  to  remunerate  him  according  to  his  supposed  deserts. 
There  was  never,  however,  any  doubt  as  to  the  genuineness 
of  his  authority,  nor  of  the  truth  of  his  representations. 

The  Governor,  in  his  insi  actions  to  Henry,  states  that 
"  it  has  been  supposed  that  if  the  F'cderalists  of  the  Eastern 
States  should  be  successful  in  obtaining  that  decided  influ- 
ence which  may  enable  them  to  control  public  opinion,  it  is 
not  improbable  that  they  will  exert  that  influence  to  bring 
aboat  a  separation  from  the  g'ineral  Union."  Henry  pro- 
ceeded through  Vermont  to  Boston,  and  wrote  back  the 
observations  that  he  had  madj  from  time  to  time,  using  an 
assumed  name.  He  writes  from  Boston,  on  the  seventh  of 
March,  1809:  "  Should  the  Congress  possess  spirit  and  inde- 
pendence enough  to  place  their  popularity  in  jeopardy  by  so 
strong  a  measure,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  will  give 
the  tone  to  the  neighboring  States,  will  declare  itself  per. 
manent  until  a  new  election  o''  members,  invite  a  congress  to 
be  composed  of  delegates  from  the  Federal  States,  and  erect 
a  separate  government  for  their  common  defence  and  com- 
mon interest."  *  *  *  "  What  permanent  connection 
between  Great  Britain  and  this  section  of  the  republic  would 
grow  out  of  a  civil  commotion,  such  as  might  be  expected, 
no  person  is  prepared  to  describe.  But  it  seems  that  a  strict 
alliance  must  result  of  necessity."  ' 

Eight  days  after,  Henry  wrote  :  "  To  bring  about  a  sepa- 
ration of  the  States,  under  distinct  and  independent  govern- 
ments, is  an  affair  of  more  uncertainty ;  and,  however 
desirable,  cannot  be  effected  but  by  a  series  of  acts  and 
long-continued  policy,  tending  to  irritate  the  Southern  and 
conciliate  the  Northern  people.  The  former  are  agricultural, 
the  latter  a  commercial  people.   The  mode  of  cheering  or  de- 

'  Carey's  "  Olive  I3r.inch,"  p.  152,  etc. 


I8 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[266 


pressing  cither  is  too  obvions  to  rcqi-  "'lustration.  This, 
I  am  aware,  is  an  object  of  much  inti .  to  Great  Britain, 
as  it  would  forever  secure  the  integrity  of  his  Majesty's  pos- 
sessions  on  this  continent,  and  make  the  two  governments  as 
useful  and  as  much  subject  to  Great  Britain  as  her  colonies 
can  be  rendered."  *  *  *  "  I  lament  the  repeal  of  the 
embargo,  because  //  was  calculated  to  accelerate  the  progress 
of  these  States  toward  a  revolution  that  would  have  put  an 
end  to  the  only  republic  that  remains  to  prove  that  a  gov- 
ernment founded  on  political  equality  can  exist  in  a  season 
of  trial  and  difficulty,  or  is  calculated  to  ensure  either 
security  or  happiness  to  a  people." 

Mr.  Henry  continued  to  report  with  complacency  the 
seditious  expressions  used  in  the  newspapers  of  Boston  and 
by  public  speakers;  and  on  the  twentieth  of  March  declared 
that  it  should  be  the  peculiar  care  of  Great  Britain  to  foster 
divisions  between  the  North  and  the  South ;  and  that  the 
men  of  talents  and  property  preferred  the  chance  of  main- 
taining their  property  by  open  resistance  and  final  separa- 
tion to  an  alliance  with  France  and  a  war  with  England. 

While  in  Boston,  Mr.  Henry  mingled  freely  in  good 
society,  and  entertained  handsomely;  but  he  mentions  in 
his  letters  the  names  of  none  with  whom  he  was  specially 
in  communication.  As  Great  Britain  withdrew  the  Orders 
in  Council  about  this  time,  the  strain  in  the  relations  of  the 
two  countries  was  temporarily  relaxed,  and  Mr.  Henry  was 
withdrawn.  President  Madison  paid  him  $50,000  for  the 
information,  and  Henry  stipulated  that  the  names  of  persons 
concerned  should  not  be  insisted  upon. 

The  excitement  produced  by  this  evidence  of  the  disposi- 
tion of  Great  Britain  to  foster  divisions  in  the  United  States, 
was  one  of  the  exciting  causes  of  the  proclamation  of  war 
with  Great  Britain,  which  took  place  on  the  eighteenth  of 
June,  1812.  The  Federalists  put  out  an  address  in  opposition 
to  the  war,  because,  by  shutting  up  the  commerce  of  the 
Eastern  States,  it  was  involving  them  in  loss  and  distress. 
The  governors  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut '  declined 

'  Dwight's  "  Hartford  Conv.,"  p.  247. 


i..- 


,i 


■ 


^^^ 


— ^I^^-J 


1 


267] 


Influence  upon  the  A  merit  ,in  Systein. 


»9 


:d 


to  answer  to  ;i  requisition  from  the  President  for  troops, 
except  as  they  should  be  used  to  repel  invasion,  and  refused 
to  yield  the  command  of  the  State  militia  to  the  ofificcrs  of 
the  regular  army.  The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  issued 
j'n  invitation  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  other  interested  New 
England  States,  to  appoint  delegates  to  meet  in  convention 
to  consider  their  grievances  and  recommend  measures  of 
redress. 

The  Hartford  Convention  met  on  the  fifteenth  of  Decem- 
ber, 1814,  at  which  delegates  were  present  from  all  the  New 
England  States.  It  was  opposed  to  the  war  with  England, 
and  was  unwilling  to  contribute  to  its  prosecution.  It  was 
offended  at  the  measures  of  the  several  administrations  whose 
executive  head  had  been  from  Virginia,  as  those  measures  had 
been  disastrous  to  the  commercial  interests  of  New  England. 
It  objected  to  the  authority  over  the  State  militia  by  the 
general  [ovcrnmcnt,  and  of  its  claim  to  command  them,  and 
its  assertion  of  power  to  use  the  troops  beyond  the  borders 
of  the  State. 

The  convention  found  the  final  cause  of  these  evils-  and 
here  the  matter  connects  itself  with  my  subject  of  the  r  suits 
following  upon  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana, — in  the  threat- 
ened inordinate  growth  of  the  country  to  the  west  and  the 
southwest.  It  therefore  put  forth  the  declaration  that  the 
admission  of  new  States  into  the  Union,  formed  at  pleasure 
in  the  Western  region,  has  destroyed  the  balance  of  power 
which  existed  among  the  original  States,  and  deeply  afTected 
their  interests.  It  expressed  the  belief  that  the  Southern 
States  will  first  avail  themselves  of  their  new  confederates  in 
the  West,  to  govern  the  East;  and  finally  the  Western 
States,  multiplied  in  number,  and  augmented  in  population, 
will  control  the  interests  of  the  whole.  It  therefore  resolved 
that  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
should  be  recommended  to  the  States  represented,  to  be 
proposed  by  them  for  adoption  by  the  State  Legislatures ; 
and  that  the  States  should  persevere  in  their  efforts  to  obtain 
such  amendments,  until  the  same  should  be  effected. 


'  Dwight's  "  Hartford  Conv.,"  p.  371. 


I 


20 


The  Louisiaita  Purchase  in  its 


[268 


Among  the  amendments  thus  proposed,  having  in  view 
the  object  of  checking  the  creation  of  new  States  out  of  the 
recently  ac(|uircd  territory,  now  rapidly  filling  with  popula- 
tion, were  these : 

{n)  The  exclusion  of  slaves  from  the  basis  on  which  repre- 
sentation was  proportioned. 

{b)  The  reciuir.itlon  that  in  the  admission  of  new  States, 
the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  both  houses 
ohould  be  necessary. 

(r)  A  prohibition  of  Congress  from  interdicting  commer- 
cial intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  except  with  the  concur- 
rence of  two-thirds  of  both  houses  of  Congress. 

{(i)  The  rcciuisition  of  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of 
both  houses  of  Congress,  in  order  to  the  declaration  of  war 
or. the  authorization  of  acts  of  hostilities  against  foreign 
nations,  except  in  defence. 

((')  The  provision  that  the  President  should  be  eligible 
only  for  a  single  term,  and  not  be  chosen  twice  in  succession 
from  a  single  State. 

An  incidental  evidence  of  the  anxious  effect  upon  Presi- 
dent Madison's  nund  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  sedi- 
tious spirit  shown  in  the  Northeast,  is  had  in  a  letter  written 
by  Wm.  Wirt  to  his  wife  in  October,  1814.'  "  I  called,"  he 
says,  "on  the  President  to-day.  He  looks  miserably  shat- 
tered and  woe-begonc — in  short,  heart-broken.  His  mind  is 
full  of  the  New-England  sedition.  He  introduced  the  sub- 
ject, and  continued  to  press  it — painful  as  it  obviously  was 
to  him.  I  denied  the  probability,  even  the  possibility,  that 
the  yeomanry  of  the  North  could  be  induced  to  place  them- 
selves under  the  power  and  protection  of  England,  and 
diverted  the  conversation  to  another  topic ;  but  he  took  the 
first  opportunity  to  recur  to  it,  and  convinced  me  that  his 
heart  and  mind  were  painfully  full  of  the  subject." 

The  irritation  which  had  called  forth  the  remonstrances  of 
the  Hartford  Convention  had  been  intensified  by  the  ill- 
success  of  the  military  operations  of  the  war  ;  the  ineffectual 
and  vexatious  efforts  to  subjugate  Canada,  the  surrender  of 

'  Wirt,  i.,  349. 


.i 


-. 


2691 


Iiijliu'iicc  upon  the  American  System. 


General  Hill,  and  the  .ipi)reliensions  of  the  eajjture  of  New 
Orleans  by  the  British.  Tlie  conclusion  of  peace,  however, 
just  at  this  time,  an<l  the  brilliant  victory  of  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans,  even  before  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention, 
gave  a  halo  of  popularity  to  the  administration,  and  threw 
an  odium  upon  the  spirit  and  results  of  the  convention.  The 
proposed  adjourned  meetinjjf  in  Hoston,  of  course,  never  took 
place. 

Emerpjcncics,  as  they  arose  in  the  nation's  life,  were 
causiiiLj  the  people  to  see  that,  for  the  practical  administra- 
tion of  ttie  ^'overnment,  there  must  be  an  efficient  central 
power.  The  days  of  the  Confederation  were  past.  The 
members  of  the  convention,  in  their  hope  of  amending  the 
Constitution,  had  made  too  little  account  of  the  presump- 
tion that  attaches  to  the  settled  order,  and  the  utter  unlikeli- 
hood that  those  in  power  would  reduce  their  own  relative 
strength.  In  the  make-up  of  the  convention,  moreover, 
there  was  much  fine  intellectual  power  ;  but,  for  any  hope  of 
making  their  conclusions  effectual,  there  was  an  absence  of 
tough,  physical  strengtii,  such  as  would,  in  the  last  resort, 
fight,  in  order  to  carry  out  its  will.' 

If  it  seemed  to  be  a  simple  and  f'licitous  thing  to  add  the 
large  domain  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  to  the  United  States, 
it  was  found  to  affect  profoundly  the  relations  of  all  the 
parts  ;  and  for  many  years  the  apprehension.--  occasioned  by 
the  acquisition  of  so  much  territory  to  the  South  and  West 
disturbed  the  country,  and  embittered  the  political  compli- 
cations, even  in  the  remotest  portions  of  the  Union. 

The  steady  movement  of  population  westward  received 
an  impetus  from  the  Louisiana  purchase.  New  settlements 
were  founded,  and  communities  which  before  had  been 
almost  wholly  made  up  of  those  of  French  birth  and  extrac- 
tion came  to  have  in  them  a  large  infusion  of  Americans. 
There  was  an  element  of  venture  and  danger  in  this  large 
movement  of  population,  such  as  vested  it  with  a  degree 
of  romance.  Americans,  too,  as  they  went,  were  zealous 
propagandists  of  the  blessiigs  of  civil  liberty  which  they  had 

'  Adams'  Fed.,  p.  410. 


IVLi"IU**Aa«  IMMH 


If! 

i', 


22 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[270 


themselves  only  recently  achieved.  The  times  were  full  of 
commotion.  France,  indeed,  had  passed  from  the  throes  of 
revolution  under  the  strong  hand  of  Napoleon  ;  but  the  rest- 
lessness under  absolute  rule  had  communicated  itself  to 
peoples  beyond  our  borders  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and 
there  was  everyvvhe:-e  a  readiness  for  revolt.  The  results 
of  the  American  conflict,  and  now  the  steady  pressure  of  our 
influence  and  control  in  the  West  and  South,  seemed  to 
have  put  upon  our  people  the  office  of  extending  free  in- 
stitutions to  the  suffering  nations  beyond  our  frontiers. 
Hopes  and  eyes  were  fixed  upon  this  young  land,  in  the  ex- 
pectation that  it  would  offer  help  to  all  incipient  movements 
towards  revolution  in  the  Spanish  provinces  in  Central  and 
South  America. 

Then,  in  this  new  country',  there  were  adventurers,  with 
broken  fortunes,  ever  ready  to  hope  that  glory  r^nd  wealth 
might  be  found  in  the  regions  beyond.  There  were  political 
dreamers  who  desired  to  try  new  social  experiments  in  fresh 
fields.  The  Revolutionary  war  was  not  so  distant  but  that 
there  were  many  old  soldiers,  restless  in  civil  li^e,  who  were 
impatient  to  take  up  arms  again  for  any  worthy  cause. 

The  direction  to  which  such  adventurous  spirits,  in  view 
of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  would  push  out  turbulent  enter- 
prises was  towards  the  provinces  about  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
upon  which  the  Spanish  rule  Avas  bearing  heavil}'.  Com- 
mercial enterprise,  which  sought  to  open  new  avenues  of  trade 
in  ports  now  closed  by  the  restrictive  system  of  the  Spanish, 
join  id  with  restless  ambition,  and  gave,  at  least,  secret  coun- 
tenance to  schemes  which  proclaimed  as  their  mission,  the 
emancipation  of  oppressed  nations  from  political  thraldom. 

Within  :i  few  months  after  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana, 
there  came  to  this  country  a  South-American  adventurer 
who  sought  to  arouse  interest  in  a  project  for  sending  out 
an  expeditionary  force  to  capture  Caraccas,  and  make  this 
the  starting-point  for  an  overturning  of  Spanish  power  all 
through  South  America.  The  expedition  ot  Miranda  did 
not  sail  from  New  York  until  February,  1806,  but  it  had 
been  maturing  for  a  long  time  before  this. 


1      \ 


••U 


'ir 


271] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


23 


' 


As  far  back  as  1797,  General  Miranda,  who  had  been  in 
this  country  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  had  then 
become  inspired  with  a  des.re  to  free  his  nati\  e  land, 
approached  Pitt,  the  British  Minister,  with  a  plan,  to  seek 
his  aid,  together  wifh  that  of  the  United  States,  in  an  effort 
to  free  his  country  from  the  Spanish  rule.  Great  Britain 
was  at  that  time  at  issue  with  Spain,  with  regard  to  Nootka 
Sound.  While  there  was  not  much  local  disposition  to 
revolt,  the  weakness  of  Spain  was  counted  on,  and  England 
was  disposed  to  look  favorably  upon  the  project.' 

A  formal  proposition  was  made  that  England  should  fur- 
nish a  fleet,  and  the  United  States  a  land  force  ;  that  Great 
Britain  was  to  have  a  favorable  treaty  of  commerce  and  free 
use  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  the  Lake  of  Nicaragua; 
that  South  America  was  to  pay  Great  Britain  thirty  million 
pounds  sterling  for  its  assistance  ;  that  the  United  States 
should  have,  in  return  for  its  assistance,  the  Floridas,  Louisi- 
ana, and  the  Mississippi  River."  Miranda  wrote  to  Alexander 
Hamilton,  who  was  not  then  in  public  life,  but  had  great  in- 
fluence with  the  members  of  President  Adams'  cabinet, 
stating  to  him  the  proposals  which  had  been  made  to  Pitt, 
and  that  Pitt  was  disposed  to  look  favorably  upon  them. 

When  in  January  of  this  year  the  President  wrote  to  his 
cabinet  ministers  asking  their  advice  as  to  the  position  which 
the  United  States  ought  to  take  as  toward  France,  Mr.  Mc- 
Henry,  the  Secretary  of  War,  replied  to  him,  among  other 
things,  that  he  thought  it  would  be  well  to  approach  Great 
Britain  with  an  overture  to  obtain  a  loan,  the  aid  of  convoys, 
and  perhaps  the  transfer  of  ten  ships,  so  that  in  case  of  a 
rupture  with  Spain,  the  cooperation  of  England  should  be 
had,  the  object  of  which  should  be  the  conquest  of  the 
Floridas,  Louisiana,  and  Spanish  South  America ;  of  which 
all  the  territory  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi  River,  with 
the  port  of  New  Orleans,  was  to  be  the  part  of  the  spoils 
allotted  to  the  United  States.'  This  was  the  identical  prop- 
osition which  Miranda  had  laid  before  Pitt,  and  had  detailed 

'  Adams'  Works,  i.,  pp.  523,  679.  ;  viii.,  p.  560,  etc, 

'  Edin.  Rev.,  vol.  13,   277.  'J.  Adams'  Works,  viii.,  571. 


«U 


l*g«»jw?y,-^^«gg 


24 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[272 


to  Hamilton,  and  which  Hamilton  induced  McHenry  to  lay 
before  the  President. 

By  the  treaty  of  Ildefonso,  on  the  nineteenth  of  August, 
1796,  France  and  Spain  had  guaranteed  each  the  dominion 
of  the  other ;  therefore  they  had  common  cause.  The 
United  States  was  at  this  time  infuriated  over  the  publica- 
tion of,  as  it  was  called,  the  X,  Y,  and  Z  correspondence,  in 
Avhich  the  rapacity  of  Talleyrand  had  demanded  a  large  bribe 
as  the  price  of  the  alliance  of  France.  Spain  had  virtually 
closed  the  Mississippi  by  denying  the  right  of  deposit  at 
New  Orleans.  The  country  was  aroused.  The  cry  went 
out :  "  Millions  for  defence  ;  not  one  cent  for  tribute !  " 
Eighty  thousand  troops  were  called  out.  Washington  was 
appointed  commander-in-chief.  Hamilton  was  made  major- 
general,  and  second  in  command. 

Spain  was  rather  the  valet  than  the  ally  of  France.  The 
best  way  to  strike  France,  which  had  insulted  this  country, 
was  to  strip  Spain  of  its  colonies.  Spain  was  weak ;  France 
was  too  much  occupied  in  Europe  to  help  Spain  ;  Great 
Britain  favored  the  spoliation.  Hamilton  was  not  disposed 
to  go  to  all  the  trouble  and  expense  of  war  against  France 
for  little  result.  If  Spain,  by  closing  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  invoked  war,  that  war  should  go  on  to  offensive 
operations.  Hamilton  wrote  to  the  chairman  of  the  Senate 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs  :  "  If  we  are  to  engage  in  war, 
our  game  will  be  to  attack  where  we  can.  France  is  not  to 
be  considered  as  separate  from  her  ally.  Tempting  objects 
will  be  within  our  grasp."  To  make  a  great  empire  in  South 
America,  with  principles  akin  to  those  of  the  United  States ; 
this  was  a  worthy  dream.  Hamilton,  his  son  declares,  hoped 
that  his  name  would  descend  as  the  Liberator  of  South 
America.'  As  he  put  it  before  himself:  •*  The  independence 
of  the  separated  territory,  under  a  model  government,  with 
the  joint  guaranty  of  the  cooperating  powers,  stipulating 
equal  privileges  in  common ;  this  would  be  the  sum  of  the 
results  to  be  accomplished." 

On  the  twelfth  of  February,  1799,  Hamilton  wrote  to  Gen. 

'  J.  C.  Hamilton's  "  History  U.  S.,"  vii.,  21S. 


i   \ 


\      I 


«4 


.-«iJ_ 


•tSAML,    I  «■  ii*rn  I 


ir  ■    I  My   iniii'^Nilb .J  "^i^w •*•:*•  >  •HitwufW'*'''^»'iFT 


t        \ 


273] 


Influence  upon  the  AmericaH  System. 


25 


Wilkinson,  then  commander  of  the  army,  at  New  Orleans, 
asking  him,  as  Washington  was  unable  then  to  act,  to  meet 
him  in  Philadelphia,  in  order  to  confer  as  to  the  disposition 
of  the  forces  in  the  West  and  South,  in  view  of  a  probable 
attack  by  the  French  upon  the  South  in  case  of  the  breaking 
out  of  hostilities." 

In  reply  to  Miranda's  letter  to  hi.n,  Hamilton  wrote  to 
Miranda,  through  Rufus  Xing,  the  American  Minister  in 
London  :  "  I  could  personally  have  no  participation  in  it, 
unless  patronized  by  the  government  of  this  country.  *  "  * 
The  plan,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be  a  fleet  of  Great  Britain, 
an  army  of  the  United  States,  a  governor  of  the  liberated 
territory  agreeable  to  both  the  cooperators.  We  are  raising 
an  army  of  about  twelve  thousand  men.  General  Washing- 
ton has  resumed  his  station  at  the  head  of  the  army.  I  am 
appointed  second  in  command."  It  is  altogether  probable 
that  the  strong  desire  of  Hamilton  to  have  precedence  in  the 
proposed  army,  immediately  after  Washington,  and  there- 
fore his  successor  in  command  in  case  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  a  few  months  after,  or  his  inability  to  take  rank 
over  Pinckney  and  Knox,  matters  which  were  warmly  dis- 
cussed at  the  time,  came  from  Hamilton's  wish  to  command 
the  forces  which  he  was  determined  should  not  cease  their 
operations  until  they  were  employed  in  what  he  deemed 
their  most  important  business,  of  helping  the  revolution  in 
South  America,  and  emancipating  the  oppressed  colonies 
from  Spanish  rule.'' 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October  Miranda  replied  that  Ham- 
ilton's views  were  approved  by  the  British  Minister,  that  the 
land-force  would  consist  of  American  troops,  and  the  marine 
be  English  ;  that  every  thing  was  ready,  and  only  awaited 
the  fiat  of  the  President ;  and  that  an  intended  insurrection 
in  South  America  had  been  deferred  to  await  the  action  of 
the  cooperating  powers. ' 

Miranda  wrote  to  the  President,  and  sought  to  enlist  his 


'  Wilkinson's  Mem.,  i.,  440. 

'  Hamilton,  vii.,  215  ;  Van  Buien 

'  Hamilton's  "  Kepub.,"  vii,,  220. 


'  I'olit.  Parties  in  U.  S.,"  p.  86. 


«^ 


t    A 


* 


l>   i 


26 


Tlic  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[274 


sympathy.  He  closed  with  the  exclamation :  "  Would  to 
God  the  United  States  would  do  for  my  countrymen  of  the 
South  in  1798  what  the  king  of  France  did  for  them  in 
1778!" 

The  President  made  no  reply,  and  gave  no  countenance  to 
the  project.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  any  policy  which 
emanated  from  Hamilton.  Adams'  grandson,  in  editing  his 
works,  says :  "  The  bare  suggestion  of  an  alliance  with  Great 
Britain  contributed  materially  to  modify  the  policy  toward 
France."  ' 

England  would  only  help  in  the  revolt  in  South  America 
in  case  Spain  was  not  able  to  save  herself  from  a  revolution, 
anu  i<eep  France  out  of  Portugal ;  and  England  so  informed 
Spain.  At  the  same  time  it  prepared  an  expedition  for  the 
purpose  of  beginning  the  revolution  in  South  America. 
Miranda  was  kept  in  suspense,  awaiting  the  pleasure  of  the 
English  Government  in  the  involutions  of  its  policy  with 
Spain.  At  length,  when  hope  in  that  quarter  was  gone,  in 
1804,  he  came  to  this  country,  having,  however,  an  under- 
standing Vv^ith  the  British  Government  that  but  little  force 
would  need  to  be  used,  and  that  it  would  give  real,  if  non- 
avowed,  assistance. 

Miranda  called  upon  and  was  received  cordially  by  the 
President  and  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  difference  with 
Spain  on  the  subject  of  Louisiana  had  been  settled.  Hamil- 
ton had  just  died  by  the  hand  of  Burr.  There  could  no 
open  aid  be  had  from  the  United  States  for  the  expedition, 
but  it  evidently  appeared  afterward  that  the  government 
was  privy  to  the  project,  although  it  could  not  publicly 
countenance  it. 

The  expedition  sailed  from  New  York  in  a  single  vessel 
on  the  second  of  February,  1806."  It  consisted  of  nearly 
two  hundred  persons,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  were 
Americans,  many  of  them  of  good  standing,  but  most  of 
them  of  crooked  fortunes.  They  were  made  to  believe  that 
the  government  intended  very  soon  explicitly  to  authorize 

'  J.  Adams'  Works,  viii.,  582. 

■  Flislory  of  Miranda's  Exp,  to  S.  A.     Host.,  1810,  passim. 


u 


JSCaWHa'.Tj'WWM 


2751 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


27 


the  use  of  force  against  Spain ;  that  they  were  going  to 
relieve  the  oppressed;  and  that  an  indefinite  field  of  con- 
quest, with  no  doubt  as  to  the  result,  stretched  out  before 
them.  The  English  vessels  of  war  which  they  fell  in  with 
examined  their  papers,  and  evinced  their  good-will  by  letting 
them  go  on.  They  were  allowed  to  recruit  their  numbers, 
and  lay  in  supplies  at  Triniuad,  where  they  stopped  for  a 
time.  They  landed  at  Coro,  in  Caraccas,  on  the  third  of 
August,  where  Miranda  put  ouL  a  proclamation,  calling  the 
people  to  his  standard,  and  promising  large  concessions. 

Affairs  were  badly  managed  ;  there  was  no  local  response  ; 
the  Spaniards  at  length  rallied  their  forces ;  a  number  of  the 
expeditionary  soldiers  were  taken  prisoners  and  put  to 
death ;  the  remainder  were  driven  off  the  coast,  were  scat- 
tered, and  gradually  found  their  way  back  to  America.  Thus 
ended  in  disaster  an  attempt  which  was  keenly  watched 
from  a  distance,  and  to  which  large  help  would  have  come,  had 
it  but  been  able  to  establish  itself  for  a  while.  It  had  looked 
to  the  United  States  for  help,  as  they  were  developing  such 
large  interests  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  failed,  as  being  an 
effort  from  without,  rather  than  an  outgrowth  from  within. 

Even  while  Miranda  was  concerting  his  plans  in  this  coun- 
try, Aaron  Burr  was  restlessly  moving  through  the  West 
and  East,  stirring  the  embers  of  sedition,  inflaming  the  wild 
hopes  of  adventurers,  and  using  the  fascination  of  his 
personal  influence,  to  organize  the  plot  which  contemplated, 
in  his  excited  brain,  nothing  less  than  an  empire,  to  be  made 
out  of  the  disaffected  districts  in  the  southwestern  portion 
of  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  which  he  proposed  to 
invade  and  conquer ;  and  with  its  capital  at  New  Orleans. 
From  March,  1805,  when  his  incumbency  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency ceased,  to  September,  1806,  when  he  came  to  Blenner- 
hassett  Island,  to  undertake  the  material  preparations  for 
the  expedition.  Burr  was  intensely  occupied,  enlisting  sym- 
pathy, securing  means,  enrolling  adherents,  and  leaving  the 
vague  impression  everywhere  that  very  soon  a  movement 
would  begin  which  would  shake  the  government  to  its 
centre. 


•  ■/•■-«►"'«;. ..'va 


It 

Ml 


28 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[276 


We  know  what  a  pitiful  force  he  actually  had  as  he  came 
down  the  Mississippi  River  in  January,  1807.  And  yet  we 
know  that  approaches  had  been  made  to  the  diplomatic 
representatives  in  this  country  of  Great  Britain  and  Spain 
for  aid,  and  that  they  had  promised  such  aid  to  the  project ; 
that  the  President  had  thought  the  occasion  serious  enough 
to  cause  him  to  fulminate  against  the  expedition  a  proclama- 
tion of  warning  addressed  to  the  governors  of  the  States ; 
and  that  the  gencral-in-chicf  of  the  army  pretended  to  have 
serious  alarms  as  to  the  extent  and  results  of  the  uprising. 
The  President,  indeed,  afterward  wrote  to  Bowdoin,  as 
showing  how  popular  the  expedition  was  :  "We  have  only  to 
lie  still,  and  he  would  have  had  followers  enough  to  have 
been  in  the  city  of  Mexico  in  six  weeks."  ' 

To  Viwxr  came  all  the  factious  complaints  made  through 
the  West  of  the  real  or  imagined  neglects  which  its  interests 


government 


m 


were  suffering  from  at  the  hands  of  the 
Washington,  To  him  came  assurances,  never  to  be  realized, 
of  those  who  pledged  to  him  their  adhesion  and  aid.  Into  his 
web  were  woven  an  ill-assorted  medley  of  hopes  of  plunder, 
anticipations  of  the  acquisition  of  the  fabulous  wealth  of  the 
mines  of  Mexico,  desire  for  place  and  distinction  in  the  new 
empire,  until  to  Burr  it  seemed  a  perfect  and  strong  fabric. 
He  left  no  records  ;  his  co-conspirat(  rs  would  not  be  likely  to 
tell  the  story  of  the  pledges  broken,  and  the  point  at  which 
the  plot  approached  the  success  which  finally  eluded  it. 

He  was  arrested  on  the  seventeenth  of  January,  escaped, 
was  recaptured,  taken  to  Richmond,  was  tried  and  acquitted. 
It  is  a  noteworthy  coincidence  that  the  two  great  antago- 
nists, Hamilton  and  Burr,  should  both  have  had  the  purpose, 
although  in  a  different  form,  to  lead  American  forces  into 
the  Spanish-American  country.  It  indicates,  among  other 
things,  that  this  was  the  readiest  field  for  warlike  prowess. 

The  expedition  of  Miranda  and  the  conspiracy  of  Burr 
found  their  life  and  encouragement  in  the  restless  spirit  of 
adventure  in  the  American  people,  in  a  sympathy  for  the 
oppressed  nationalities  in  the  regions  beyond,  specially  felt 

'  Wirt,  i.,  p.  151. 


...  • 


77] 


lufluincc  upon  i':e  American  System. 


29 


I    •■' 


by  those  who  had  recently  achieved  their  own  political 
freedom,  and,  ir»ingling  with  these  motives,  no  doubt,  a 
desire  to  find  a  more  rapid  road  to  wealth.  These  had  been 
constant  for'^es  all  the  time  pressing  out  the  American 
frontier.  Rut,  before  the  actual  extension  of  the  boundarj' 
line,  the  on-pressing  adventurer  or  colony  takes  over  the  line 
into  the  foreign  country  the  American  spirit,  which  con- 
stantly gains  body,  and  leavens  the  communities,  until  there 
is  a  restlessness  under  the  existing  domination,  a  disposition 
to  revolt,  and  then  the  shaping  up  of  a  slowly  formed  pur- 
pose to  seek  for  annexation  to  the  United  States. 

Thus  it  was  with  Texas.  The  boundary  line  had  been 
clearly  defined  in  1819,  two  years  before  the  independence  of 
Mexico  was  conceded  ;  but,  before  this,  American  adventur- 
ers had  made  settlements  in  this  American  colony,  some  of 
whom  became  the  political  leaders  there.  Discontent  Avith 
the  government  caused  revolts  to  such  an  extent  that  repeat- 
edly, from  March,  1825,  to  August,  1829,  the  United  States 
sought  to  purchase  a  part  or  the  whole  of  Texas.  In  1827, 
Mr.  Poinsett,  the  American  Minister,  was  instructed  to  offer 
one  million  dollars  for  the  territory  to  the  Rio  Grande,  or 
half  that  amount  for  the  portion  east  of  the  Colorado  River. 
Mr.  Clay,  the  Secretary  of  State,  explained  his  reasons  for 
this  course,  in  the  fact  that  grants  of  land  of  such  great 
extent  were  being  constantly  and  readily  made  by  the  Mexi- 
can government  to  American  citizens,  for  very  small 
amounts,  presumably  for  settlement;  that  these  citizens  car- 
ried with  them  their  principles  of  law,  liberty,  and  religion ; 
that,  while  they  might  be  expected  to  conform  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  country,  it  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that 
there  would  be  no  collisions ;  that  already  some  had 
occurred  ;  and  that  these  would  inevitably  lead  to  misunder- 
.standings  between  the  two  republics.  He  thought,  there- 
fore, it  would  be  better  for  the  United  States  to  purchase 
the  territory,  and  so  remove  the  causes  of  disturbance. 

By  1 83 1,  the  American  population  in  Texas  had  reached 
twenty  thousand ' ;    and   although,  by  the   general   law  of 

'  Yoakum's  "  Tcxa.s,"  i.,  274. 


if 


i 


30 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[278 


April  6,  1830,  immigration  from  the  United  States  was 
prohibited,  a  constant  stream  of  Americans  came  into  the 
district.  For  years  after,  the  whole  history  is  that  of  strug- 
glings  to  free  themselves  from  Mexican  rule.  The  country 
declared  itself  independent  on  the  second  of  March,  1836. 
Its  independence  was  acknowledged  by  the  United  States 
on  the  first  of  March  of  the  following  year.  Thereafter,  for 
eight  years,  it  was  a  never-ending  contest  on  the  part  of 
Mexico,  by  predatory  warfare,  to  subdue  the  insurgents  and 
establish  its  own  rule ;  and,  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants, 
to  endure  all  things  rather  than  come  again  under  Mexican 
control.  The  formerly  dominant  Latin  type  of  race  had 
wholly  changed,  and  been  now  supplanted  by  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  the  American.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that, 
in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  wearing  strife,  the  Texans 
should  be  inclined  to  place  themselves  under  the  protection 
of  their  powerful  neighbor,  and  seek  annexation  to  the 
United  States. 

This  came  without  effort  on  the  part  of  this  country.  It 
was  the  gravitation  of  the  weaker  towards  the  stronger, 
having  like  political  convictions.  It  was  a  further  step  on 
the  way  in  which  the  Louisiana  purchase  was  a  critical 
incident. 

In  1843,  Mexico  threatened  the  United  States  that  the 
annexation  of  Texas  would  be  considered  as  a  provocation 
to  war.  Annexation,  however,  took  place  in  184S,  and  was 
ratified  in  Congress  by  a  very  narrow  vote,  on  account  of 
the  opposition  of  the  North,  which  was  occasioned  by  the 
dislike  to  the  extension  .crritory  in  which  slavery  would 
prevail.  A  consideration  which  was  urged  with  effect  in 
favor  of  the  annexation,  was  the  assertion  that  France  and 
Great  Britain  made  no  secret  of  their  desire  to  see  Texas 
under  an  English  or  a  joint  protectorate  without  slavery, 
and  free  from  all  control  of  the  United  States.' 

Mexico  declared  war;  the  result  of  which,  by  the  treaty  of 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  February  the  second,  1848,  was  the  large 
increase   of  the   domain  of   the    United    States,  which   in- 

'  Yoakum's  "Texas,"  ii.,  421. 


J* 


»     -      t 


A 


g*^  .■%■♦*  ■*%■--  •.-««*'  -  ^'■■ 


■-*•  •l'<!~-..^y,  4 


.1  * 


279] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


31 


eluded  the  valuable  mineral  regions  of  California,  Nevada, 
and  Colorado.  The  acquisition  '  Louisiana,  as  contribut- 
ing to  the  enormous  increase  of  the  material  wealth  of  the 
United  States,  derived  from  the  gold  and  silver  products  of 
these  Western  States,  has  had  a  very  wide  and  decided 
influence  upon  the  social  life  of  this  country.  While  the 
gold  coinage  of  the  country,  from  the  foundation  of  the 
government  to  1849,  was  only  seventy-six  million  dollars, 
from  the  time  of  the  acquisition  of  California  until  now  it 
has  been  over  thirteeen  hundred  and  thirty-seven  millions 
of  dollars.  And  while  the  silver  coinage  of  the  country, 
from  the  beginning  of  our  nation  until  1852,  was  only 
seventy-nine  million  dollars,  since  the  time  of  the  develop- 
ment of  Nevada  the  amount  has  been  over  three  hundred 
and  seventy-six  millions  of  dollars.  v\ny  recoinage  of  money 
would  be  more  than  offset  by  the  large  sums  exported  from 
the  country  in  bars.  The  total  increase  in  the  wealth  of 
the  country  in  stiver  and  gold  from  the  regions  included  in 
the  Western  acquisitions  of  the  United  States  amounts  to 
fifteen  hundred  mill.ons  of  dollars.' 

We  are  all  of  us  conscious  of  the  difference  which  this 
accession  of  wealth  has  made  in  the  manner  of  living  in  this 
country.  The  era  of  large  fortunes  dates  from  the  discovery 
of  the  California  gold  mines.  Before  that  there  were  but 
few  who  possessed  more  than  a  handsome  competence. 
Into  the  style  of  building,  the  modes  of  living,  the  methods 
of  trade,  the  influence  of  this  vast  and  sudden  increase  of 
wealth  has  entered.  The  purpose  of  this  paper  does  not 
require  that  I  should  do  more  than  indicate  the  direction, 
and  the  increasing  significance  of  this  influence,  as  resulting, 
in  the  last  analysis,  from  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana 
territory. 

A  further  result,  not  of  the  least  importance,  as  growing 
out  of  the  acquisition  of  this  territory,  was  the  vast  increase 
in  the  sweep  and  scope  of  the  American  policy,  which  the 
large  increase  of  territory  compelled.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  republic,  it  is  impossible  not  to  notice  what  a  restricted 

'  Report  Secretary  of  Treas.  U.  S,,  1884,  ji.  241. 


i^ 


t 


32 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[280 


range  of  interests  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress.  In 
the  treaty  of  1782,  while  the  freedom  of  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  River  is  yielded  to  Great  Britain,  and  the  whole 
subject  of  its  possession  by  the  United  States  occupies  but 
a  few  lines,  the  fisheries  arc  dealt  with  in  minute  particu- 
larity. The  question  of  the  peculiar  protection  to  be  ex- 
tended to  rice  occupied  the  attention  of  the  first  Continental 
Congress  for  several  days,  and  threatened  the  loss  to  the 
American  cause  of  one  of  the  revolting  colonies.'  But  it 
was  not  strange  that  entirely  new  and  vastly  extended  in- 
terests should  appear,  when  the  domain  of  the  Union  came 
to  extend  over  the  continent,  and  to  abut  on  two  oceans 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Great  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment were  called  out  by  the  enlarged  and  complicated 
relations  resulting  from  the  treaty  of  purchase.  New  duties 
were  created,  not  only  with  the  other  nations  on  this  conti- 
nent, but,  on  account  of  the  isolation  of  the  hemisphere, 
•with  both  the  continents,  and  with  the  European  continent 
in  its  bearing  towards  the  nations  of  the  West.  The  earlier 
position  of  the  United  States  was,  while  dignified,  yet  de- 
fensive. With  national  growth,  came  the  recognition  and 
assertion  of  the  place  which  this  country  must  hold  before 
the  world,  both  by  reason  of  its  geographical  position,  and 
also  the  peculiarity  of  its  political  principles.  It  is  gratify- 
ing to  our  na.  onal  pride  now  to  recall  that,  even  in  the  days 
of  our  greatest  weakness,  there  seemed  to  be  a  prescience  of 
our  certain  greatness  in  the  future,  and  a  fine  audacity  in 
asserting  principles  which  could  only  secure  their  full  inter- 
pretation afterward. 

Washington,  in  1796,  had  uttered  his  prophetic  warning 
that,  as  Europe  had  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  have 
no,  or  a  very  remote,  relation  to  us,  we  should  engage  in  no 
entangling  foreign  alliances,  nor  should  we  forego  the  ad- 
van  cages  of  our  own  peculiar  situation. 

Jefferson  wrote,  on  the  fourth  of  August,  1820,"  to  William 
Short:  "The  principles  of  society  in  Europe  and  here  are 
radically  different,  and  I  hope  no  American  patriot  will  ever 


'  Bancroft'.;  Hist.,  vii.,  147. 


'  Randolph  :  '   Jefferson,"  iii.,  472. 


28l] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


13 


lose  sight  of  the  essential  policy  of  interdicting  in  the  seas 
and  territory  of  both  Americas  the  ferocious  and  sanguinary 
contests  of  Europe." 

After  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  the  great  powers  of 
Europe  combined,  in  what  was  called  the  Holy  Alliance,  to 
make  head  against  revolutionary  tendencies  in  Europe  and 
the  assertion  of  popular  rights  against  autocracy.  An  in- 
surrection broke  out  in  Spain  in  the  summer  of  182 1.  This 
power  had  fallen  from  her  old  place  in  Europe,  and  her 
American  colonies  were  slipping  away  from  Iier.  A  Congress 
of  the  European  powers  met  at  Verona  on  the  twenty-second 
of  October  of  that  year,  to  consider  the  insurrection,  and  if 
necessary  to  interpose  and  stamp  out  the  revolt.  England, 
represented  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  declined  to  inter- 
fere. It  was  determined  that  a  French  army,  with  the 
approval  of  the  other  powers,  should  occupy  Spain,  and  sup- 
press the  insurrection. 

At  this  Congress  the  subject  of  helping  Spain  to  recover 
revolted  provinces  in  America  was  discussed,  and  England 
expressed  opposition  to  it.  Besides  the  reasons  for  this 
attitude  coming  from  her  liberal  constitution  and  spirit, 
commercial  instincts  had  weight.  England's  trade  with 
these  colonies  had  become  very  great,  and  her  commercial 
supremacy  was  unchallenged.  She  would  view  with  jealousy 
any  disposition  in  other  powers  to  intervene,  and  thus  cause 
a  resumption  of  Spain's  restrictive  policy. 

In  August,  1823,  Mr.  Canning,  the  British  Minister,  pro- 
posed to  Mr.  Rush,  our  Envoy  in  London,  that  Great  Britain 
and  the  Unitct.  States  should  put  out  a  joint  declaration 
before  Europe,  in  opposition  to  the  designs  of  the  Alliance 
with  regard  to  the  Western  continents :  that  while  the  two 
governments  did  not  design  to  interfere  with  or  become 
possessed  of  any  portion  of  the  colonies,  they  woukl  not 
regard  with  indifference  the  intervention  of  any  third  power. 
Mr.  Rush  replied  that,  while  he  had  no  instructions  on  the 
subject,  he  would  accede  on  one  conditicm,  that  England 
should  recognize  the  independence  of  the  revolted  colonics, 
as  the  United  States  hac'  done.     Mr.  Canning  declined  the 


\ 


! 


34 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


\_l'i2 


proposition,  and  in  constuiucncc  no  declaration  was  put  out. 
Great  Hritain  protested  to  I'Vance  against  any  interv'ention 
on  its  part,  in  behalf  of  Spain,  in  the  affairs  of  the  colonies  ; 
and  I-'rance  declared  that  it  had  no  intention  to  interfere  in 
Spanish  Americ. 

About  this  time  the  United  States  and  Russia*  were  at 
issue  with  re>,Mrd  to  the  boundary  lines  in  the  northwestern 
parts  of  America.  Russia  made  claim  to  territory  which 
was  disputed  by  the  United  States.  On  the  seventeenth  of 
July,  1S23,  John  (Juincy  Adams,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
declared  to  Baron  Tuyl,  the  Russian  Minister,  that  the 
United  States  were  ready  to  assume  distinctl)'  the  principle, 
that  the  American  continents  are  no  longer  subjects  for  any 
new  European  colonial  establishments.'' 

The  President,  Mr.  Monroe,  thought  that  the  situation 
was  :  o  grave  that  he  called  upon  the  ex-1'residents,  Jeffer- 
son ;ind  Madison,  for  their  advice.  Mr.  Jefferson  said:  "  Our 
first  and  fundamental  maxim  should  be  never  to  entangle 
ourselves  in  the  broils  of  Europe.  Our  second,  never  to 
suffer  Europe  to  intermeddle  with  ci  w\.tlantic  affairs. 
America,  North  and  South,  has  a  set  o{  Interests  tlistinct 
from  those  of  Europe,  and  peculiarly  her  own."  In  this 
judgment  Mr.  Madison  concurred. 

The  President,  on  the  second  of  December,  1823,  in  his 
message  to  Congress,  put  forth  the  declaration  which  has 
since  become  so  famous :  "  In  the  wars  of  the  European 
powers,  in  matters  relating  to  themselves,  we  have  never 
taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  comport  with  our  policy  so  to  do. 
It  is  only  when  our  rights  are  invaded,  or  seriously  menaced, 
that  we  resent  injur)',  or  make  preparation  for  our  defence. 
With  the  movements  on  this  hemisphere  we  are,  of  necessity 
more  intimately  connected.  *  *  *  We  owe  it,  therefore, 
to  candor,  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between 
the  United  States  and  the  powers  of  Europe,  to  declare  that 
we  should  consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their 
system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to 
our  peace  and  safety.     With  the  existing  colonies  and  de- 

'  Tucker  ;  "  Monroe  Doct.,"  p.  13.      'J.  Q.  Adams'  Mem.,  vi.,  163. 


■T- 


<T 


&■   : 


T- 


283I 


hijlncnci'  upon  tin-  Anitri'tiin  Systrm. 


35 


pctHloncies  of  any  luiropcan  power  wo  have  not  interfered, 
and  shall  not  interfere ;  but  with  the  jjovernnieiits  which 
have  declared  their  independence,  and  maintained  it,  and 
whose  independence  we  have  acknowled^^ed,  wc  could  not 
view  any  interference  by  a  luiropean  power  in  any  other 
liqht  than  as  a  manifestation  of  an  unfrienilly  disposition 
towards  the  United  States." 

Rnj^land  diil  not  concur  in  the  reference  to  colonization  ; 
but  her  commercial  situation  was  such  that  she  stronj^ly  ap- 
proved of  the  purpose  expressed  to  resist  the  interference  of 
Europe  in  South  America.  Mr.  Everett  says  '  that  the  doc- 
trine was  announced  by  President  Monroe,  "not  merely  with 
the  approval  of  the  British  Minister  of  l''orei;4n  Affairs,  but 
at  his  earnest  and  oft-repeated  solicitations."  In  Parliament, 
strong  praise  was  given"  to  a  government,  representing  only 
ten  millions  of  people,  for  bravely  declaring  in  the  face  of 
Europe  its  purpose  to  espouse  the  cause  of  oppressed 
nationalities.  The  South-American  colonists  greatly  re- 
joiced, and  the  value  of  their  funds  rapidly  advanced. 

It  is  to  be  noted  with  regard  to  this,  so-called,  "  Monroe 
doctrine,"  that  it  is  quite  certain  that  it  did  not  at  all  eman- 
ate from  Mr.  Monroe,  but  was  suggested  and  urged  upon 
the  President  by  his  Secretary,  Mr.  Adams.  The  principle 
was  communicated  to  Baron  Tuyl,  six  months  before  it  found 
expression  in  the  President's  message.  His  biographer  says 
that  he  finds  no  trace  of  the  doctrine  in  any  other  portion  of 
Mr.  Monroe's  writings.  A  recently-published  letter  of  Mr. 
Plumer' indicates  that  the  President,  after  he  had  written, 
but  before  he  had  delivered  his  message  to  Congress,  ex- 
pressed to  Mr.  Adams  his  doubts  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
part  which  referred  to  non-interference,  but  that  Mr.  Adams 
pressed  it,  and  Mr.  Monroe  remarked  that,  as  it  was  written, 
so  it  should  remain.  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  April,  1848,*  in  a 
speech  in  the  Senate,  said  that  that  portion  of  the  message 
originated  with  Mr.  Adams,  and  never  became  a  subject  of 


'  JV.  V.  Ledger,  Oct.  3,  1862. 

*  Mag.  I'enn.  Hist.,  vi.,  358. 

*  Cong.  Globe,  xviii,,  p.  712  ;  30th  Cong.,  ist  Sess 


'  Niles'  Reg.,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  633,  S22. 


f 


I     r  , 


if    y,i 

m 
m 


36 


The  Loiiisiatia  Purchase  in  its 


[284 


deliberation  in  Mr.  Monroe's  cabinet.  Hi"  declared  that 
he  stated  this  as  a  duty  to  the  cabinet,  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  and  at  this  time  the  only  survivor.  He  was  him- 
self opposed  to  the  doctrine,  as  was  also  Mr.  Randolph. 

It  is  also  interesting  to  observe  that,  although  the  enun- 
ciation of  the  principle  created  profound  impression  at  the 
time  in  this  country  and  Europe,  and  has  been  constantly 
quoted  by  our  ministers  and  statesmen  since,  as  a  part  of 
the  unwritten  law  of  the  republic,  yet  the  doctrine  has  never 
received  legislative  sanction.  Within  two  months  after 
President  Monroe's  declaration,  on  the  twentieth  of  January, 
1824,'  Mr.  Clay,  and  afterwards  Mr.  Poinsett,  introduced 
resolutions  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  would  not  view  without  serious 
inquietude  any  foreign  intervention  of  the  allied  powers  of 
Europe,  to  reduce  to  their  former  subjection  those  parts  of 
the  continent  of  America  whicli  have  established  for  them- 
selves independent  governments,  and  which  governments 
have  been  solemnly  recognized  by  the  United  States.  The 
resolution  was  laid  upon  the  table  for  future  consideration, 
while  ihe  House  was  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  or  what 
was  just  then  a  burning  question,  the  expression  of  sympathy 
in  the  Greek  Revolution,  and  it  never  was  taken  up. 

The  special  application  of  the  doctrine,  and  the  resolution 
of  Mr.  Clay,  to  South  America  absorbed  attention  at  the 
time,  rather  than  the  larger  principle,  which  interests  us  in 
this  day.  This  fact  evidently  affected  contemporary  criti- 
cism of  the  declaration.  The  London  papers,  because  Great 
Britain  was  commercially  interested  in  non-intervention  in 
South  America,  all  applauded  the  announcement ;  and  Bell's 
Weekly  Mcssctiger  said  :  "  This  settles  the  most  important  of 
all  penc'*ng  political  questions."  The  French  press,  on  the 
other  hand,  denounced  it.  L"  Etoile,  of  Paris,  the  ministerial 
organ,  said  :  "  Mr.  Monroe  is  the  temporary  president  of  a 
republic  situated  on  the  eastern  portion  of  North  America. 
This  republic  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  possessions  of 
the  King  of  Spa'n,  and  on  the  north  by  those  of  the  King  ol 

'  Abrdgmt.  !iJcb.  Cong.,  vii.,  650  ;  Niles'  Reg.,  vol.  xxv,,  335. 


♦ 


»    .    •■ 


.'     •-**    < 


1      ' 
1,^ 


285] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


VI 


'  .   •■ 


,'   •■^*  < 


England.  Its  independence  has  only  been  acknowledged  for 
forty  years,  liy  what  title  then  are  the  two  Americas  to  be 
under  his  immediate  dependence  from  Hudson's  Bay  to 
Cape  Horn  ?  It  is  satisfactory  to  consider  that  the  message 
has  not  yet  received  the  sanction  of  any  of  the  authorities  of 
the  countn/,  and  that  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Monroe  are  as  yet 
merely  the  opinions  of  a  private  individual."  To  this  the 
London  Times.,  of  the  sixteenth  of  January,  rejoins :  "  The 
editor  calls  Mr.  Monroe  a  '  temporary  president,'  but  is  the 
power  which  he  exerts  a  temporary  power?  It  is,  on  the 
contrary',  a  prerogative  that  never  dies,  let  who  will  be  its 
trustee  for  the  moment ;  and  which,  as  Mr.  Monroe  has,  on 
this  occasion,  employed  it,  has  its  sanction  in  the  heart  of 
every  citizen  among  the  millions  who  confided  it  to  his 
hands.  Will  L  Etoile  venture  to  match  the  duration  of  any 
despotic  throne  in  Europe  with  that  of  the  President's  chair 
in  North  America  ?  Or,  will  his  patron  risk  the  fate  of  an 
expedition  on  the  chance  of  the  policy  announced  by  this 
'  private  individual,'  Mr.  Monroe,  being  disclaimed  by  the 
other  authorities  of  the  republic  ?  "  ' 

Mr.  Webster,  in  April,  1826,  declared  concerning  the  pro- 
nouncement :  "  I  look  upon  the  message  of  December,  1823, 
as  forming  a  bright  page  in  our  history.  It  did  honor  to  the 
sagacity  of  the  Government,  and  I  will  not  dim  that  honor. 
It  elevated  the  hopes  and  gratified  the  patriotism  of  the 
people."  '  Successive  administrations  have  used  the  declara- 
tion in  communications  to  foreign  governments,  as  though 
its  principle  was  not  debatable,  and  have  asserted  that  the 
doctrine  is  imbedded  in  the  policy  of  this  country. 

In  1852,  in  the  application  of  this  doctrine,  the  United 
States  refused  to  enter  into  a  tripartite  treaty,  sought  by 
Great  Britain  and  France,  to  renounce  forever  all  claims  to 
the  island  of  Cuba.  This  government  declared  that,  while  it 
had  no  present  purpose  of  interference,  the  situation  of  the 
several  governments  was  not  identical,  and  we  could  not 
bind  ourselves  under  all  possible  eventualities. 

In   1 861,  when  Napoleon  was  seeking  to  establish  an  em- 


/ 


'  Niles'  Reg.,  xxv.,  412. 


'  Works,  iii.,  205. 


1^ 


h 


38 


T/u-  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[286 


pire  in  Mexico,  this  government  demanded  of  France  a 
declaration  of  its  purpose  in  intervening  in  the  affairs  of  that 
nation,  and  it  secured  a  pledge  that  France  only  sought  an 
adjustment  of  the  pecuniary  claims  of  its  subjects.  Napoleon, 
however,  declared  his  true  purpose  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
General  Forey,  on  the  landing  of  the  troops  at  Vera  Cruz  : 
"  It  is  our  interest  that  the  United  States  shall  be  powerful 
and  prosperous ;  but  it  is  not  at  all  to  our  interest  that 
she  should  grasp  the  whole  Gulf  of  Mexico,  rule  thence 
the  Antilles,  as  well  as  South  America,  and  be  the  sole 
dispenser  of  the  products  of  the  northwest.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, Mexico  preserves  its  independence,  and  maintains  the 
integrity  of  its  territory,  if  a  stable  government  be  there 
established,  with  the  aid  of  France,  we  shall  have  restored 
to  the  Latin  race  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  its  force 
and  prestige." 

Napoleon  ventured  on  the  disability  of  the  United  States 
at  the  time,  occasioned  by  the  civil  war.  The  House  of 
Representatives,  on  the  fourth  of  April,  1864,  passed  a  reso- 
lution  asserting  that  they  thought  it  fit  to  declare  that  it  did 
not  accord  with  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  acknowledge  a  monarchical  government  erected  on 
the  ruins  of  any  republican  governments  in  America,  under 
the  auspices  of  any  European  power.  The  United  States 
did  not  at  any  stage  recognize  the  usurping  intrusion,  and 
the  whole  fabric  crumbled  to  pieces  when  the  French  force 
was  withdrawn  on  the  vigorous  protest  of  this  government, 
and  the  restoration  of  its  strength  by  the  close  of  the  civil 
contest. 

The  most  significant  application  of  the  Monroe  doctr'ne 
has  been  in  connection  with  the  question  of  the  Isthmus 
Canal.  On  the  twelfth  of  December,  1846,  a  treaty  was  ne- 
gotiated between  the  United  States  and  New  Grenada,  now 
Colombia,'  in  which  New  Grenada  guaranteed  the  right  of 
way  or  transit  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  upon  any  modes 
of  construction  that  then  existed,  or  that  might  thereafter 
be  con.^tructed ;  and  the  United  States,  on  their  part,  guaran- 

'  Treaties  U.S.,  p.  187. 


f 


w 


!: 


i 


i 


t! 


ft 


i 

i 


JS/] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


39 


teed  the  perfect  neutrality  of  the  isthmus,  and  the  rights 
of  sovereignty  of  New  Grenada  over  the  territory  of  the 
same. 

In  1849,'  Ml'-  Hise,  our  representative  in  Guatemala,  signed 
a  treaty  with  the  republic  of  Nicaragua,  without  instruc- 
tions, however,  from  the  United  States  Government,  by  the 
terms  of  which  Nicaragua  granted  to  the  United  States  the 
exclusive  right  of  way  across  her  territory  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  ship-canal,  and  the  United  States,  on  their  part, 
guaranteed  to  Nicaragua  vhe  protection  of  her  territory,  and 
assured  her  of  support  in  any  war  for  its  defence. 

Great  Britain  asserted  an  early  protectorate  over  the  Mus- 
quito  Indians,  a  petty,  mongrel  race  in  Central  America,  and 
on  this  was  based  a  claim  on  her  part  to  a  portion  of  Hondu- 
ras. Some  differences  arose  between  the  Musquito  Indians 
and  the  republic  of  Nicaragua,  and  on  the  ninth  of  January, 
1848,  the  Nicaraguans  raised  their  flag  at  Greytown,  the 
necessary  terminus  of  any  canal  or  railway  across  the  isth- 
mus, within  the  territory  of  Nicaragua.  But  a  few  weeks 
after,  on  the  second  of  February,  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo  was  signed,  by  which  the  United  States  obtained  a 
great  accession  of  territory,  and  a  corresponding  increase  of 
influence  in  Southwestern  North  America.  Apparently  as 
an  offset  to  this,  and  to  restrain  the  growing  influence  of  the 
United  States,  immediately  after.  Great  Britain  took  the 
part  of  the  Indians,  and  forced  Nicaragua  to  terms.  A  few 
months  after.  Great  Britain  took  forcible  possession  of  the 
islands  in  the  Bay  of  Fonseca,  on  the  Pacific  side,  ostensibly 
to  cnforc"  her  claims  of  indemnity  for  British  subjects  against 
the  States  of  Honduras  and  San  Salvador;  but,  in  reality,  to 
maintain  British  influence  in  territory  which  had  prospec- 
tively such  great  intciTiational  importance. 

As  it  was  foreseen  that  such  clasliing  interests  would  be 
likely  to  involve  the  larger  powers,  Mr.  Clayton,  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  at  Washington,  and  Mr.  Bulwer,  the  British 
Minister,  on  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1850,  signed  a  treaty," 
the  purpose  of  which  was  to  fix  the  views  of  the  two  powers 


/ 


Treaties  U.  S.,  p.  436, 


'■'  Treaties  U.  S.,  p.  377. 


I! 


Ik' 


t   :! 


40 


T/ic  Louisiana  Purchase  in  its 


[288 


with  reference  to  any  means  of  communication  by  ship-canal 
which  might  be  constructed  in  Nicaragua  between  the  At- 
lantic and  Pacific  oceans.  By  this  it  was  provided  that 
neither  government  should  ever  obtain,  or  maintain  for  it- 
self, any  exclusive  control  over  the  said  ship-canal ;  nor 
erect  or  maintain  any  fortifications,  or  colonize,  or  exercise 
any  domination  over  Nicaragua,  or  any  part  of  Central  Amer- 
ica ;  nor  make  any  ul  j  of  any  protectorate  or  alliance  for  the 
purpose  of  acquiring  for  the  citizens  of  the  one  power  any 
rights  of  commerce  which  should  not  be  offered  on  the  same 
terms  to  the  citizens  of  the  other.  The  canal  was  to  be  neu- 
tral ;  the  cities  at  its  termini  were  to  be  free ;  and,  in  case 
of  war,  exemption  from  attack  for  a  certain  distance  was  to 
be  guaranteed. 

The  position  in  which  this  treaty  placed  the  United  States 
was  one  not  in  harmony  with  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  also, 
while  leaving  the  guaranties  of  the  United  States  to  Gre- 
nada and  Nicaragua  for  the  maintenance  of  their  territory  and 
defence  of  their  rights  uncancelled,  it  barred  this  government 
from  the  advantages  which  those  guaranties  were  designed 
to  confer. 

Mr,  Clayton,  on  the  nintli  of  March,  1856,  in  the  Senate,' 
acknowledged  that  in  this  treaty  he  intended  to  disregard 
the  Monroe  doctrine.  In  the  efforts  to  harmonize  the  diver- 
gent interpretations  of  this  treaty,  and  either  to  abrogate  it 
or  modify  its  provisions  ;  to  all  of  which,  of  course,  Great 
Britain  interposes  vigorous  objections,  there  has  been  a  long 
correspondence.  Great  Britain  has  adhered  very  firmly  to 
her  views,  and  a  misunderstanding  exists,  which  is  quiescent, 
so  long  as  there  is  no  canal  existing ;  but  which  may  at  any 
time  become  acute,  and  which  must  at  some  day  be  settled. 

President  Adams,  on  the  third  of  March,  1829,"  in  sending 
to  the  Senate  a  copy  of  Mr.  Clay's  instructions  on  non-inter- 
vention to  the  deputies  of  this  government  to  the  Panama 
Congress,  said,  "The  purposes  for  which  the  instructions 
were  intended  are  still  of  the  deepest  interest  to  our  country 
and  to  the  world  ";  and  then  he  significantly  added  :  "  They 


'  Cong.  Globe,  xxvii,  251. 


J,  Q.  Adams'  Mem.,  viii.  p.  gs,  etc. 


'■',.' 


\ 

V 


A' 


il 


289] 


Influence  upon  the  American  System. 


41 


may  hereafter  call  for  the  active  energies  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States."  The  simple  utterance  made  by  Presi- 
dent Monroe,  o\'ix  sixty  years  ago,  when  this  country  had 
not  one-sixth  of  its  present  population,  and  which  only 
marked  the  forward  stride  of  policy  compelled  by  the  acqui- 
sition of  Louisiana, — this  utterance  has  a  vast  amount  of 
caloric  in  it,  and  in  its  pracical  application  to  emergencies 
at  any  time  likely  to  arise,  may  require,  if  the  principle  is  to 
be  maintained,  as  no  doubt  it  will  be  maintained,  as  Mr. 
Adams  foresaw.,  "  the  active  energies  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States." 

I  do  not  think  that  I  have  overstated  the  consequence 
which,  in  the  development  of  this  country,  the  purchase  of 
the  Louisiana  territory  has  had.  Nor  do  I  think  that  I  have 
gone  too  far  afield,  and  conn^.'ied  influences  and  results  with 
this  critical  event  in  the  history  of  this  country,  which  do 
not  directly  and  properly  belong  to  it.  Indeed,  my  impres- 
sion is  that  there  are  still  other  consequences  which  have  re- 
sulted, and  arc  emerging,  as  madi."  possible  b)- this  acquisition 
of  territory ;  but  to  which  I  ha\  not  the  opportunity  now 
to  advert.  It  would  be  interesting  to  observe  the  influence 
upon  legislation  and  practice  in  certain  portions  of  this  coun- 
try of  the  Latin  law,  as  checking  and  affecting  the  use  of 
the  common  law  of  England,  and  which  came  to  prevail 
in  Louisiana  under  the  extended  domination  of  the  French. 
Scarcely  less  suggestive  would  be  a  study  of  the  mode  of 
dividing  the  lands  in  severalty  in  the  communities,  without 
fields  in  common,  which  had  its  origin  in  the  customs  which 
the  French  brought  with  ther.i  to  Louisiana.  It  is  a  feature 
which  comes  out  prominentl\-  in  early  land  litigation,  and 
has  interesting  associations  in  connection  with  early  Saxon 
use. 

The  noblp  river,  which,  with  its  confluents,  is  the  crown- 
ing feature  of,  and  gives  the  distinguishing  value  to,  this  pur- 
chase, drains  half  the  continent.  The  Father  of  Waters,  as 
Mr.  Lincoln  said,  [roes  unvexed  to  the  sea.  With  its  head 
among  the  northern  lakes,  and  its  outlet  in  the  tepid  waters 
of  the  Gulf  of  MoSithV.it  Wnds-jtoretl-Wi^lUe. interests  of  the 

•  *.•::••.:    ::  .'  •^:'-  •  ::  ::. 
..'.... .... ...  :  :  ::...:s •./:.. 

v.*'  /.  ::.:•!•    ,i',\  -    ;•.:  ...;.v 
.  '. ... ::;:  :  •••  •  •  ■•    --*  ■    - 


'I 


42 


The  Louisiana  Purchase. 


L290 


varied  latitudes  through  which  it  passes.  In  its  majestic 
movement,  and  its  constantly  increasing  extent  and  sweep, 
it  fitly  symbolizes  the  history  and  future  of  the  American 
Republic.  This  steadily  and  quietly  moves  on,  drawing  to 
itself  without  effort,  and  then  carrying  easily  in  its  bosom,  the 
elements  which  had  their  rise  in  widel)'-separated  regions, 
until  they  merge  themselves  in  the  benignant  depths  and 
width  of  God's  great  purposes  in  forming  and  maintaining 
the  nations  of  the  earth. 

In  all  this  destiny  and  work  the  acquisition  of  this  vast 
and  fertile  territory,  with  what  has  issued  from  it,  plays  a 
masterful  part. 


t  f  • 


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T" '  ■; ' '^  T.i^'4  M*'!"^  ^'g^  ^' •  ^''  rr  T  "  '■:-^'^-^-  -* 


V;.  'i- 

■  '  J* 

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rki 


UnitM  States  may  be  elected  as  honorary  members,  and  shall  be 
exempt  from  the  payment  of  assessments.  % 

IV. 

The  officers  shall  be  a  President,  two  Vice-Presidents,  a 
Secretary,  a  Treasurer,  and  an  Executive  Council  consisting  of 
the  foregoing  officers  and  of  four  other  members  elected  by  the 
Association.  These  officers  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  at  each 
regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Association. 


The  Executive  Council  shall  have  charge  of  the  general 
interests  of  the  Association,  including  the  election  of  members, 
the  calling  of  meetings,  the  selection  of  papers  to  be  read,  and 
the  determination  of  what  papers  shall  be  published. 


-y 


VI. 


This  Constitution  may  be  amended  at  any  annual  meeting, 
notice  of  such  amendment  having  been  given  at  the  previous 
annual  meeting,  or  the  proposed  amendment  having  received  the 
approval  of  the  Executive  Council. 


PROSPECTUS. 


The  American  Historical  Association  will  publish  original 
contributions  to  History  in  the  form  of  serial  monographs,  each 
complete  in  itself,  bearing  its  own  title,  pagination,  and  price. 
The  monographs  will,  however,  be  numbered  in  the  order  of  their 
publication,  and  paged  not  only  each  for  itself,  but  each  continu- 
ously with  the  series,  (^^o  that  when  complete  the  entire  volume 
may  be  bound  and  i^dlexed.  Members  of  the  Association,  in 
consideration  of  their  annual  fee  of  $3,  paid  to  the  Treasurer, 
will  receive  the  publications  01  the  Association  as  soon  as  issued 
from   the  press  of  G,  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  27  and  29  West  23d 


t/ 


11 


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